Belize Summer
Mission Oregon Blog
July 2025
July 22th
Day 16: Travel Day
We are back safe and sound glory be to God!! This last day of the mission was full of travels that all went smoothly. It has been a very fruitful time shared within the community. We all thank God for the graces and gifts that were poured upon us. We loved being able to share special moments to all of the families and friends. But it is all thanks to God and the outpouring of His light that we were able to do this successfully. One last time, For Christ, With Christ, Like Christ, VAMOS!! <3
Kaadish and Annabelle
July 21th
Day 15: Rest Day
This was it. our last day here in Belize, A retreat Rest day. A beautiful way to end this trip. I suddenly had all the time in the world to reflect on everything that happened to me, and everything that I had done. We had a moment of personal prayer where we could reflect on the ways the Lord has impacted our lives.The more I reflected the more I realized how much he has truly changed me. I could go on and on about how much he has helped me, but all of a sudden it’s about how I have helped the Lord get through to other people. All of a sudden I found the joy in me truly decreasing and him increasing, this is a faith I want to follow for life.
Rosario Espinoza
July 20th
Day 14: “We have seen His glory” John 1:14
Today was the last day of our mission! What a day it was. Once again we celebrated a joyous mass with the Belmopan community. Afterwards, we had our last round of missions, in which we sadly said goodbye and wonderfully got to encourage our newfound Belizean brothers and sisters. However, our day didn’t end on a bleak note: in the evening, we held a community potluck for the parishioners, both old and—thanks be to God—new. God truly blessed us here! Amidst all the many (and tasty) foods provided, I witnessed the beginnings of a new, vibrant Catholic community in Belmopan. I was especially moved to see how one lady, who was far from the Church only two weeks ago, wished me goodbye by saying “Ronan, God bless!” Surely, God has.
Ronan Cook
July 19th
Day 13: “The righteousness shall live by faith” Rom 1:17
Today was the final night of our three day retreat in Belmopan. It was an evening filled with the Holy Spirit, and with the presence of Mary our Mother. Earlier today, my mission group visited a woman at the last minute to invite her on the retreat. She was hesitant at first, but the more we spoke, the more interested she became. I gave her a rosary and explained how praying to Mary would allow her and her children to grow closer to Jesus. We left her house, and later that night, she came to the retreat! It was a privilege to see how the Holy Spirit moved her heart, along with the 260 people who attended as well. The room was full of prayer, music, and the presence of God’s love. It’s a moment I will never forget.
Valeria
July 18th
Day 12: “He must increase, so I must decrease” Jn 3:30
Today was the second day of the retreat focused on the infinite mercy of God. We started out the day meditating with the gospel, receiving Jesus in the Eucharist in Holy Mass, and then straight to missioning to make our last rounds inviting as many people as possible to tonight’s retreat. We fasted breakfast and lunch, offering up our hunger so that the Lord may convict the hearts of all those in Belize that we have visited so that they might come to the retreat tonight. It brings me joy to share with you all that our prayers were answered! Many many people received the merciful love of God through the beautiful sacrament of reconciliation. Thank you Jesus!
Tomas Guzman
July 17th
Day 11: “Seek peace and pursue it” Ps 34:14
I went on a smaller three day mission to a village called “valley of peace” with nine other women. The area is very poor but there I discovered what Jesus meant when he said “blessed are the poor.” The small parish we stayed at was full of people with such deep faith. Four men from the parish guided us to the houses of fallen away Catholics and missioned with us. We called them “our guardian angels.” The people there all share something in common they all have suffered a lot. Mostly from illness and deaths in their families. At the same time the people were so generous and many have experienced miraculous healings from God. The faithful there know God is their Father because they have to depend on Him. They have so much need and so they experience the Father’s care in a very special way. Missioning there was such an incredible gift and strengthened my faith immensely.
Becca Bradley
July 16th
Day 10: “Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” Luke 10:20
Had a solid day, can’t complain. My group had one especially impactful visit today when we came across a man in the street providentially. Turns out, he is a Catholic who is completely alone in a new country, and had prayed the night before to see God. So God sent us down the street today. His story was heartbreaking, and he was truly impacted by God’s love as we spoke and prayed with him. We had an amazing house visit with him, and are looking forward to seeing the Lord work deeply in him during the adult retreats.
Ben Marion
July 15th
Day 9: “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God” Ps 51:10
This whole mission God has been so present, guiding everything. As we were walking through the neighborhood this morning, we heard a voice calling out to us. We turned around and found a man begging us to come over. He had such a hunger for the Lord but didn’t have a faith community. We shared the story of Bartimaeus, the blind man who was healed by Jesus, and prayed with him. He seemed to have suffered a lot as he was homeless, and moved from place to place, so he appreciated our visit. He reminded me of Bartimaeus crying out to Jesus’ disciples. We had a beautiful prayer together and I could tell it touched him a lot. Jesus is alive here. More than we ever seek Him, He is seeking us out. Now we have our sights set on the retreat nights that begin Thursday!
Maria Nehnevaj
July 14th
Day 8: “My soul rests in God alone, from whom comes my salvation” Psalm 62:2
Daniel Marshall
July 13th
Day 7: “My soul rests in God alone, from whom comes my salvation” Psalm 62:2
Jesus is alive in Belmopan! Today Jesus led my mission group to a woman who suffered from an illness that caused her to go blind. At the house visit we shared the story about Jesus healing the blind man, Bartimaeus. We had a very powerful prayer moment all together, invoking the presence of the Lord and asking for spiritual and physical healing. It was truly so beautiful and I feel so blessed to rely on God’s graces. The Holy Spirit is leading the way, He is the one knocking at doors looking for His children! All Glory to God!
Angela Gonzalas
July 12th
Day 6: “My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me” Jn 4:34
Some of us just returned to Belmopan from a 3-day “Delta Mission” to a village called Camalote. We packed light, not even bringing food with us, rather trusting that the Lord would provide. A highlight for me was bringing Communion to a 102-year-old woman and when the entire group of us prayed over a man who within the last few years developed total blindness. Despite bringing no food, we had every meal provided for us by the great generosity of the people either by donation or by hosting us in their homes. In this time, my faith was greatly increased and I pray that Camalote’s faith was strengthened, too.
Dylon Nichols
July 11th
Day 5: “The love of Christ impels us, since One has died for all” 2 Cor 5:14
Last night was our first big event, The Healing Mass and Prayer. From the beginning, I could feel the Lord’s presence among us in the faith and anticipation of the many people and families who showed up. As the prayer began, I was overwhelmed with joy because I knew and believed that people were being healed. All the sweat, tears, and walking in the midst of the heat was worth it as we got to see those we missioned to come with so much faith.
For me, one of the most beautiful moments of the night was to watch one of my fellow missionaries go up to receive healing. Little by little, some of us missionaries went up to pray over and with her. Not only are we able to share the love of Christ to the people of Belmopan, but we have a real love for each other in this mission.
America Vasquez
July 10th
Day 4: «I can do all things in Him who strengthens me» Phil 4:13
It’s only day four of our mission and it has been very blessed. Everyday so far, someone has gifted us with something to share. Despite us missionaries coming to serve in Belmopan, over all our experience has been met with a tremendous outpouring of love and gratitude from the locals as they have been praying for missionaries and priests. In one of my home visits, someone said, “praise God for missionaries because no one is preaching the Gospel on our streets.” To hear this was very edifying and shows how much more beautiful our home could be with this hospitality. Their openness and generosity is something that I hope we can all take back to the States.
Michael Ivezic
July 9th
Day 3: «Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness» Mt 6:33
Yesterday, we started our mission as those crying out on Zion as we embarked on a parade to make our presence known to the people of Belmopan. We ran, sang, marched, and cheered with the joy of Christ in our hearts and our voices. It was a powerful moment for us to witness people coming out of their homes, seeing their faces light up, and being able to greet them with love and excitement.
Today was the first official day of missioning where we actually got to do house visits. Being on mission, we are graced with the opportunity to share God’s love and Word in a radical way as we literally get to live like His apostles. So, I speak for everyone when I claim that each encounter we had was a blessing and a privilege. In these visits, we were able to learn more about the people and build personal connections with those who live in our assigned zones. We intentionally spent time with different families and individuals in their homes, sharing the Gospel and testimonies, inviting them to our Healing Mass tomorrow and Vacation Bible School for their children, entrusting it all to God’s providence.
Chloe Onato
July 8th
Day 2: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” 2Cor 5:17
Today began with a wide variety of feelings. After traveling all of yesterday and receiving a warm welcome by our hosts, we slept for the first time on Belizean soil. Rain pattered down all night and many of us were adapting to the humidity for the first time, but when we awoke everything became real: we are in Belize and we are on a mission. We started the day by offering ourselves to God and entrusting the day to Him. We meditated on the gospel passage of the Annunciation to Mary, which would later fuel our formation talk, before celebrating Mass. In his homily, Fr. John spoke about how the passage we heard in mass outlined Jesus’ public ministry, well aligned with our goals in this mission. After mass, we ate breakfast and then received our formation talk on the humanity of Jesus. God called each of us on this mission, and we responded with a “yes” like Mary’s, so we may have a personal, human encounter with Jesus. Fueled by the Eucharist and these providential words, we split into mission groups to scope out our zones. We all saw the houses we will be missioning to in the next two weeks, and encountered many people eager to speak to us. One man, Promativo, told us he was extremely happy to finally have people preaching the Word of God in his town, and that Belmopan really needs it. We prayed a rosary entrusting our work to Mary, and shared with each other during lunch. After a much needed siesta, we gathered to sing some worship music, and then get out on our welcome parade. The purpose was to go out and announce that Catholic missionaries had arrived. We marched throughout all of our mission zones singing songs (including some in Spanish!), announcing that we will be missioning for two weeks, and extending a brief invitation to some of this week’s events. This was incredibly successful! We spoke to dozens of people and invited many children to Vacation Bible School. We were well received and anticipated many good house visits. All us missionaries also become even more excited to begin our visits tomorrow. We visited the Lord in adoration and gave Him thanks and interceded for those we met, and then ended the day with dinner as a group.
Andrew Crawford
July 7th
Day 1, Traveling: “Here I am, O God, to do your will.” Heb 10:9
God has blessed us already with safe travels and an amazing place to stay. We woke up early this morning and spent the day traveling fun and sharing more with each other among the missionaries about what we’re excited and nervous about. We also shared growing in our desire to mission and spreading the Good News of God’s great love with the hearts of those in Belize. Already God has answered prayers of mine and His providence is abounding! We ran into the arms of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the parish as soon as we arrived. The Gospel spoke of the teaching, healing, and prayer of Jesus and the disciples! Receiving HIm in the Eucharist was exactly what I needed. We were also blessed by generous parishioners who cooked us a delicious BBQ. I can’t wait for God’s plans for this mission to unravel and I’m counting on His grace to carry me through.
Carissa Catteral
21st June
Pre-mission: «Go and make disciples of all nations»
On July 7th, we begin our first ever summer mission trip to Belmopan, Belize!
A group of 53 missionaries have been preparing for this mission for the past three months, and now it is here!
During our two weeks there, we will be visiting houses to share the Gospel, putting on Vacation Bible School for kids, visiting small surrounding villages, and inviting to the three nights of retreat for adults. Those retreat nights will be very special opportunities for people to return to Christ, experience His mercy and presence, and be set on fire with the Holy Spirit.
We ask you to pray for us as we are down there, and please also pray for all those we visit, that they may have a deep encounter with Jesus Christ, alive and risen.
Thank you for your prayers and support,
WHY summer MISSION?
Evangelization is a core part of being Catholic. It is the cornerstone of all pastoral action, the demands of which are primary, preeminent and preferential.
“In this mission Jesus has taken everything that I have given him and magnify it so much.”
Good News of the Kingdom of God.”
We are a society of apostolic life totally dedicated to the New Evangelization
